Mattis-Out: Trump Wants to Make a Loud Reshuffle at the Pentagon

In November 2018, Donald Trump intends to install a more loyal Secretary of Defense than James Mattis, who currently occupies the position.

There are significant disagreements between the President and the head of the Defense Department.

His assistant responsible for national security upset President Trump in the second year of his presidency. In particular, he wonders if he wants the Pentagon to be led by a man who would agree with his position more than Mattis.

"Interviews with more than a dozen White House officials, Congressional representatives, current and former Defense Department officials over the past six weeks have drawn up a portrait of the President: unhappy with his Defense Secretary, tired of unpleasant comparisons with Mattis (who behaves like an adult) and extremely concerned that Mattis is a Democrat at heart," writes the The New York Times.

According to representatives of the White house, Mattis resists several of Trump proposals: hesitates with the implementation of the decree banning US transgender people to serve in the army and the withdrawal of South Korea basing American soldiers family members. In the latter case, the Pentagon fears that this may be regarded by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un as a casus belli.

In addition, Tump and Mattis have disagreements on NATO issues and the decision of the President to get out of the nuclear agreement with Iran. Also, the US leader does not like that the current head of the Pentagon refuses to publicly support all his initiatives with praise.

At the same time, people around Mattis are convinced that he is also tired of resisting the whims of "the unpredictable President" and will not change his principles for the sake of preserving the post. By the way, an assistant of Mattis has described him as a person who is "genetically incapable of lying and genetically incapable of disloyalty."

"For this reason, Mattis diligently avoids public attention and rarely gives interviews. He doesn't want to publicly demonstrate disagreements with the President", explains the assistant.

Also, we are remind of a meeting on the situation with the separation of migrant families on June 21, which was broadcast by television: on Trumps left side there was Mattis with a stone-face, on the right side – laughing at every joke of the President, Mike Pompeo.

According to the NYT, Trump's attitude towards the Pentagon's head worsened after the publication of Bob Woodward's book, which says that Mattis allegedly has a low opinion of the President's mental abilities.

"The book tells us that Mattis believes Trump's IQ does not exceed the IQ of a sixth-grader. The head of the Defense Ministry publicly denied this information, but Trump's attitude towards him has not improved," the newspaper reports.

For his part, Democratic Senator Jack Reed expressed fears that firing Mattis will have negative consequences for the Pentagon. The Senator called the retired General one of the most highly qualified specialists in the field of defense.